ASUS GTX670 DirectCU Mini OC preview: pint-size GTX670

ASUS sent us a sample of the GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini OC, so we of course tested it and compared it to previously tested GTX 670s and 680s.

The reference design of the GeForce GTX 670 already has a relatively short PCB, but because of the standard cooler they're not that compact. For the GTX 670 DirectCU Mini ASUS developed a 17 cm PCB with a 5-phase VRM, and instead of two 6-pin connectors it's equipped with a single 8-pin one.

To make the graphics card as compact as possible ASUS has to make the cooler small as well, which probably posed a greater challenge. It's as long as the PCB and features large, aluminium fins for dissipating heat.

It's a massive cooler, weighing in at 600 grams which is quite a bit for a 17cm card. The fan measures 8cm, and it's designed in a way that it blows air in multiple directions in order to create enough airflow.

The card has two SLI connectors, even though Mini ITX systems usually can't fit more than one card. Monitor connectors consist of two DVI ports, HDMI and DisplayPort. The ASUS GTX670 DirectCU Mini is expected to be available later this month.

We tested the ASUS GTX670 DirectCU Mini OC on our graphics card testing platform, which consists of an Intel Core i7 3960X, 16GB DDR3-1600 memory, a Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB hard disk, a Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1200W PSU and Windows 7 x64. The performance was in line with that of other GTX 670 card, so the smaller size does not have a negative impact on performance. You can read the rest of this review of the Asus GTX670 DirectCU Mini OC graphics card on Hardware.info.